Saudade (noun ; longing, nostalgia)

I. We were the dirty footed girls, the truth twisting girls, the secret keeping girls; laying in a field somewhere tying knots in the stems of daisies and blowing white off dandelions. We had slightly red, wide eyes with wet lashes. Through shadowy vision we saw clouds, naive white shapes morphing into one another.

II. We were the clouds.

And we could see everything below. Our fathers understood and our mothers were reserved, and the entire world was fed at night. Everyone homes and places to go. And everyone visited her sister and the children on the weekends. And everybody drank tea and had small tattoos on clean wrists and everybody was okay and nobody was broken. Only occasionally did we cry, and the world didn’t even mind that.

III. In that moment, in that two-thirty a.m. Half of the lights were off, small pools of light hovered above a few lamps. We were sitting in a circle to the left of the bed, cross legged with smudged makeup. We were talking like teenage girls, giggling about kiss and tells, ranting about parents. And whispering about sins and wickedness. And oh how we wished we could just be clouds instead.

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This poem to me is universal. It's not just about teen girls longing to be something they're not; it's about teens trying to make sense of the universe they live in. Longing of becoming the people they dream of becoming. I really enjoyed the second stanza (albeit a few less and's in my opinion—not to be critical—would make it flow a little nicer). Your descriptions are simple. But unforgettable. There's no need of becoming all hoity-toity (is that a word?... (more »)